Military culinary training event kicks off March 9

Photo By Terrance Bell | USAEUR's Pfc. Gerardo Ortiz puts the final touches on a dessert dish during the field competition.The field competition was of several cooking events that took place during the 34th Army Culinary Arts Competition held at Fort Lee March 2-13. (Photo by T. Anthony Bell).  

UNITED STATES

02.22.2018

Story by Amy Perry 

Fort Gregg-Adams

FORT LEE, Va. (Feb. 22, 2018) -- Marinated grilled tenderloin with red currant au jus, rack of lamb crusted with macadamia nuts or brisket with caponata sauce aren’t items you’d see a military chef creating, but the annual culinary event here is anything but typical.

Those types of dishes and many more can be seen at this year’s 43rd Joint Culinary Training Event. The weeklong affair features the best military culinary chefs as they train and earn American Culinary Federation medals.

The JCTE officially starts March 9 with the Armed Forces Chef of the Year and runs through the award ceremony on March 16. The public days are March 10-15, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., at MacLaughlin Fitness Center. Each day will military culinary arts at its finest with team table displays, live cooking (student teams, nutritional categories, etc.) and various demonstrations of desserts and entrees.

The public also gets an opportunity to taste some of the meals the culinary chefs create during the Military Hot Food Kitchen Competition.

“The MKT event definitely draws the most interest,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joseph Wisniewski, Joint Culinary Center of Excellence Advanced Culinary Division chief and team manager of the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team. “Visitors get to experience a three-course meal for a great price. Menus should be posted on our Facebook soon.”

This year, there will be 45 tickets available per team, with three teams competing each day. The tickets are $5.60 – same as a dining facility meal ticket – and are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will go on sale at 11 a.m. each day.

For those who can’t spend the entire week at the fitness center, there will be live streaming of the JCTE, Facebook updates and use of the Knowledge network to post updates. Daily medal counts also will be loaded to www.facebook.com/army.culinary.

This year’s training event will also feature an international cooking competition, a master’s competition and an enlisted aide competition, among the various live cooking challenges.

“I am very excited about the event,” said Wisniewski. “I have participated every year as a competitor since joining the Army in 1998 with exception of missing a few for deployments, schools and other missions. I look forward to seeing all the creativity that our service members can produce.”

• Date Taken: 02.22.2018
• Date Posted: 02.22.2018 09:52
• Story ID: 266802
• Location: US